Did you enjoy reading about the northern half of Joshua Tree National Park, which rests in the Mojave desert? What about all the “photos of the day” I have shared? Well today I want to finish talking about Joshua Tree National Park by driving through Wilson Canyon and dropping from the higher Mojave Desert (over 3000 feet) down to the Colorado Desert (below 1000 feet) which is part of the larger Sonoran Desert.
The first place I want to tell you about is the Cholla Cactus Garden. You can take a short walk in the desert among hundreds of cactus standing three feet or so tall. These cactus have an unusual amount of spines and can stick you quite easy. The pieces will break off and stick to animals hair and fur to be transported to a new location. I think they are quite photogenic especially when the sun shines through the spines as you will see in tomorrow’s photo of the day.
The other place in the southern part of Joshua Tree National Park is Cottonwood Springs. This small oasis is right next to a parking lot, so it is very easy to get to. What you will find is a very natural setting of palm trees surrounding an oasis or spring with water for the trees. With that said, don’t get to excited because the amount of water I found last September was just enough to make the rock a little wet, but obviously it is what the palm trees needed.
From here you can take an eight mile hike out to the Lost Palms Oasis, which is a canyon with numerous palm stands. If you want to go on a few side trip along the way check out Victory Palms Canyon and Munsen Canyon.
It is now time to say goodbye to California for the time being and continue my road trip last fall in Arizona, which is where I will blog about next.
